Horizons
Looking and thinking over the horizon
Horizons is a new and growing network of Ipsos MORI researchers employing a range of strategy tools to make our research work harder. We help our clients "get out more", think more laterally around complex business issues, monitor what's changing, and in particular, think further ahead than usual about opportunities and challenges that may be appearing on their horizon.
Why Horizons?
Horizons recognises the increasing interdependence of the spheres of politics, society, economics, science and technology and the environment in both government and commerce. With this interdependence comes increasing complexity and uncertainty in decision-making. Our clients' business challenges are, as a result, often not merely intricate or complicated, but unbounded and invite many possible alternative solutions. We therefore often need to place a particular piece of research in its wider context, and find useful tools and models for ourselves and clients to embrace and "play" with the uncertainties they face both now and in the future rather than try to ignore or oversimplify them.
Our job is to facilitate our clients' thinking rather than to tell them what to think. That way, the learning and involvement is far deeper, and more immediately connected to their own decision-making. The key to achieving this is to foster a culture of continuous learning and adaptation, and the involvement of a highly diverse range of perspectives on any given topic.
What is Horizons?
Horizons is a part of the Ipsos Group's wider strategy network, seeking out opportunities to improve the way we and our clients do business by taking a much wider, and/or more long-term view of our operating environment. This is a natural extension of our longstanding expertise as a research agency, which has always been about trying to understand how social, behavioural and attitudinal change is shaping the future. We therefore have two areas of focus:
- Drive Ipsos MORI's evolution as an adaptive, learning organisation and a centre for experimentation and strategic thinking (internal value)
- Help clients identify, think and act in response to complex problems and/or long term opportunities and threats (external value).
How we work
The complexity of some of our clients' business issues — from trying to increase household recycling to understanding how global patterns of governance and trade might evolve over the next 20 years, and exploring the trends in ethical consumerism and what this means for retailers — means that we cannot hope to succeed with a rigid, one-dimensional approach to methodology. We come "as new" to every situation and strive to combine expertise with openness.
We are therefore constantly looking for new ways of combining and recombining existing methods, as well as searching out and inventing new ones. These include, but go much wider than, conventional market and opinion research techniques because we recognise that these can take us only so far. While we design bespoke methodologies for each situation, there are three broad dimensions to our work — sensing, sense-making and co-production — which work in a virtuous cycle, and each of which may involve working with our wider partners.
1. Sensing
Sensing involves using a range of research techniques to understand how diverse stakeholders perceive and experience an issue and try to identify wider forces that may be driving change. This may involve a combination of mixed qual/quant methods, deliberative research, narrative enquiry, horizon scanning, trend-spotting, and forecasting.
2. Sense-making
Sense-making employs methods to help our clients and their stakeholders find patterns in the sensing data, prioritise areas for deeper investigation and identify likely areas for intervention. This may involve techniques such as key drivers and trend analysis, systems mapping, scenario planning and both software and workshop-driven analysis techniques.
3. Co-production
Co-production brings all those with a stake in the issue together to design and implement interventions that may "change the game" in mutually beneficial ways. We employ interactive, participative forums with consumers/citizens, business planners, experts and creatives to put our learning into action. This may be in the form of new product/policy development, behaviour/culture change or action planning. This feeds into our sensing and monitoring activity to see what's changing and continue the virtuous cycle.
Our team and ethos
We value continuous learning, and are aware that no one source has all the answers, so we like to work in a highly collaborative and open way. We operate as a network across the all the five Ipsos MORI research divisions and sub-specialisms, but also enlist the help of many external experts, ranging from think tanks, academics and experts, to businesses, charities, consultancies, futurists, software engineers and inspired amateurs.
We also place a high value on engaging the public in deliberating on the issues that may shape their lives both now and in years to come. Communities of various kinds are central to our work. If you're interested in working with us in any way, either as a partner or client, don't hesitate to call or email us.
Related links:
Feature: Case Study: OSI Horizon Scanning